Hey Jude, You're Popular!

Tomorrow, appropriately enough, Jude Law debuts in the next big action flick, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. He's also in a slew of other movies — Alfie, I Heart Huckabees, The Aviator, Closer and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events — all set to be released this year. So when asked which role required golden-blond highlights in his hair, the busy Law looks absolutely baffled for a moment.

"I've just had a summer of [shooting] additional footage for the 26 films I've got coming out," he laughs, "so I'm trying to remember which hairdo this is. [I think] it was lightened for Alfie. I just had to do some photos for that."

It's hard to imagine that too much of the dreamy 31-year-old Briton could ever be a bad thing. Still, does he worry folks will get sick of him? "There are really only four [films] coming out that I'm actually in," Law insists. "The other two are, like, bit parts. And I made them over two years, so it's just my bad luck that they're all coming out in a period of four months."

Sky Captain is the first time moviegoers will really see him in a burly leading man role. Why now? "I was told for the first time that my name would help enable this film to be made and empower this young director [Kerry Conran] to make his movie," he says. "That's a huge compliment. To me, if it's something that you really recognize yourself in or really think, 'OK, I can do this. I can offer an opinion here and help heighten something,' then do it. I took that as something I hold very dear to me, actually, and still am very proud of."

Plus, Law liked Sky Captain's creative challenges. It was filmed entirely on blue screen, with the sets and backgrounds digitally added around the actors. In fact, he was so enthused, he even signed on as a producer. "It's noncynical," he explains. "It doesn't exist in a world where there's a coke-dealing, drug-smuggling lunatic. I think family adventures have slightly lost their way recently. The old swashbucklers, you can still sit down and watch them and be romanced by the romantic side and excited by the fighting. But [you're] never necessarily pushed to have to explain to your kid what a semiautomatic AK-47 is."

If Sky Captain breaks the bank this weekend, he's even willing to sign on for a sequel. "I'd certainly do it again, absolutely," he says emphatically. "We spent a good part of the production imagining what would happen next and what happened in the past. I think there's an equal portion of both. It would be nice to start in the past and go into the future."

And maybe if this rising star does enough action acting, he'll finally acquire his dream super power: "I'd like to be able to melt any paparazzi who comes within 500 meters."